Among Us
| Video Game Fandom | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Among Us |
| Developer: | Amy Liu (artist), Forest Willard (programmer & composer), Marcus Bromander (designer & artist)[1] |
| Release date: | June 15, 2018 (first release) - |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Among Us is a multiplayer game where crewmates attempt to discover the imposter in their midst. Initially, it was available only as an app (on both android and iOS); however, in late 2020 it became available on other gaming systems like Nintendo Switch.
The game went through a massive increase in popularity in 2020, two years after its 2018 release, at least partially due to Let's Play videos by Twitch streamers and YouTubers. Many people have also pointed out this popularity coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Canon
Premise
A group of spacefarers ("Crewmates") on a space ship/space station/colony world work to keep their habitat in working order, while one or more hidden opponents ("Impostors"), implied to be hostile aliens of some kind, attempt to kill the Crewmates before they can complete all of their assigned maintenance tasks.
Gameplay
Among Us gameplay is based on older, in-person social deduction games, such as Mafia and Werewolf. Players are randomly sorted into Crewmate and Impostor factions at the beginning of a round. Crewmates have a list of ship/station maintenance tasks, which may vary in complexity from single-button presses to minigames, with each task completed contributing to the Crewmates' victory progress. Impostors have the ability to sabotage the environment in several ways, from temporarily locking doors or turning off lights to crises, such as reactor meltdowns, which the Crewmates must respond to promptly or lose the game. Impostors may also kill individual Crewmates at close range, and travel quickly across the map using air vents.
Meetings are called as dead bodies are discovered, or occasionally at individual players' discretion, wherein surviving players may vote to kill someone they believe to be an Impostor. Free discussion may occur only during these meeting periods (although groups on voice chat may have their own house rules and standards about this). Familiarity with the game map and potential tasks is very helpful for both factions in either deducing the Impostors' identities or deflecting suspicion.
Individual game lobbies may tweak several game elements (e.g. task type and visibility, player vision range, Impostor kill cooldown, etc.) to adjust the difficulty balance between the factions.
The Crewmate faction wins if they either complete all of their maintenance tasks before too many are killed, or if they successfully identify and eject all Impostors. The Impostor faction wins if they are able to kill enough Crewmates without being ejected.
Version 2021.11.9 of the game added the option to include specialized sub-roles within the Crewmate and Impostor factions, further complicating gameplay.
Fandom
The Among Us fandom is broad, with segments devoted to fanfiction, fanart (particularly crossovers), Let's Play videos on different platforms, many memes, fanvids made with recorded gameplay, and animated videos (usually Multi Animator Projects).
Among Us also has a fair amount of game modders. The 100 player mod[2] is possibly the best known example. Players often make a game out of looking for unusual glitches as well.[3]
Example Fanworks
Fanfiction
- imposter syndrome by arahir. A slash fic where a "crew newbie hides in the vents and makes a friend. In unrelated news, local impostor is having a really weird day." Published in September 2020, this fic is the most kudosed Among Us fanwork on AO3 (as of Jan 2021).
Fansongs
- Show Yourself - Among Us Song (September 2020) by CG5 - As of 9th June 2021, this song/animated music video has over 73 million views on YouTube.
Resources
Fandom Resources
Fanfiction:
- Among Us stories on Fanfiction.net
- Works tagged with the Among Us (Video Game) fandom on Archive of Our Own
- Story search for among us on Wattpad
Game Resources
References
- ^ Information taken from Among Us (Wikipedia) on Jan 9, 2021.
- ^ Among Us - 100 Player mod. Archived on January 9, 2021.
- ^ See: A+Start, Among Us Glitches - Son of a Glitch - Episode 99. October 24, 2020, for one example of players commenting on glitches. Archived here by the Wayback Machine on Jan 10, 2021.